Following his departure, Brundage plans to either establish or join a non-profit organization, saying he can have more impact working outside the industry. "I think AI is unlikely to be as safe and beneficial as possible without a concerted effort to make it so." His team developed the five stages of AI progress for OpenAI.

This latest shutdown follows OpenAI's decision in May to disband its Superalignment team, which studied long-term AI safety risks. At that time, team leader Jan Leike publicly criticized the company, stating that "security culture and processes have to take a back seat to "shiny products."